Confidence

Instructions

╔∘ ★ ∘═══════════════╗ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Confidence ╚═══════════════∘ ★ ∘╝ -ˏˋ⠀Starstruck Stories⠀ˊˎ- "Hey, over here!" one of my best friends, Katherine, called. "Ellie and I are playing tennis." I ran over to her. "Cool, I wanna watch!" Katherine won the match. "Now I'm going to beat you!" she challenged. "Never!" I gasped. "Yes! I will beat everyone!" Katherine cackled. I guess she thought I wanted to wn. But really, the ball smacked me right in the face before and now I'm too scared of deja vu to ever try tennis again. "Well, I want to see you beat Ellie again," I said, stalling for time panickedly. Most people would think it's silly to worry about being hit by a tennis ball. It's small, but it's also heavy in comparison to a dodgeball. The dodgeballs at my school weigh about 0.000000005 LB. Tennis balls weigh about 1 LB. Heavy... Katherine beamed and stood up to the court again. She picked up a ball and served it. Ellie lunged for it so hard she nearly tripped. But she hit it. Katherine ran for it but accidentally tripped on the ball. She staggered exaggeratively across the court on one foot. "Whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa!" she exclaimed. "Stop being silly," Ellie said. "I won!" "Yes, she did," I said. "Right, right," Katherine grumbled. I could tell she was thinking, 'I was supposed to BEAT her!' Suddenly a leaf-blower turned on. The air got crowded. I sighed. If I was going to have to play tennis, there was larger chances of me getting smacked in the face if my chromosthesia started. I almost couldn't see anymore. "I can't play," I told Katherine. "Why not?" she asked. I replied, "Leaf-blower. Chromosthesia." and hoped she could fill in the rest. She seemed to understand. "Okay. I DEMAND A REMATCH, ELLIE ********!" (*Last name not given) "I accept!" Ellie shrieked. And it was on. Ellie served the ball. Katherine hit it. Ellie hit it. Katherine hit it. Ellie staggered across the court like Katherine had before but hit the ball. Katherine hit it. Ellie spotted something. "Hey, look-" she began, and the ball hit the court. "HAAAA, I WON!" screamed Katheirne victoriously. "Seriously, look at this," Ellie said, rolling her eyes at Katherine's celebration. She held something up. "What is this?" "Seriously?" I asked. "Have you really never seen a leaf-blower engine before?" My friends looked at me like I was crazy. "Who has?" Katherine said, puzzled. "I'm kidding. But that's a leaf-blower part for sure. See, it's red..." I pointed to a red section on the object. "And the leaf-blower is red..." I pointed to the leaf-blower, which was further away now. "We should return it." "Good idea," Ellie agreed, and started toward the person with the leaf-blower. "Hello? Leaf-blower person? You dropped this!" She held out the leaf-blower part. "Okay, thanks," the person with the leaf-blower said, stopping the noise. I was greatful. All that color was making me almost explode now that we were so close. He fiddled with the leaf-blower and the broken part and finally started it up again. I practically ran back to the tennis court. "I challenge you to a match!" shouted Katherine. Before waiting for my response, she picked up her ball and served it at me. I froze. My heart pounded. I lifted my racket up from my sides. I squeezed my eyes shut and blindly swung. Tap. The ball had bounced right off my racket and fallen on the ground. It took me a moment to realize what had happened. "Yay! I won!" I finally cheered. "It's on your side. You lost," Katherine corrected. "Aw," I complained. Katherine served again. I forced myself to look at the ball. I had to beat her! When it was time, I swung the racket. BOING! The ball bounced off the racket and flew into a nearby tree. "Sheesh, could you be less dramatic?" Katherine teased. "Says the person who jumped all over the tennis court when she merely tripped," I retorted. "Yeah, she has a point," Ellie told Katherine. Katherine walked over to the tree. "Should we get it down?" she asked. Ellie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess we could try," I suggested. "OKay. You're going up," Katherine said, pushing me forward. I paused. I had no idea how to climb a tree! But last time I'd thought that, I'd ended up great at it. So I started to climb the tree. One foot on a branch. I pushed myself up then paused to search for the ball. There it was! I climbed after it. Suddenly I slipped. "Starstruck!" shouted Katherine as I fell from the tree. "I've got you! Got you!" She ran all over the tennis court. "I... don't got you..." I lay onto the grass beneath the tree, lying still and frozen in place. "Are you okay?" Ellie asked, concerned. "Yeah," I mumbled , sitting up. "Did you get the ball?" Katherine added. I shook my head sadly. "I'll go up," Ellie offered. "No, I don't ned BOTH of you falling out of a tree," Katherine answered, holding her arm out to stop Ellie from climbing. "But I take lessons," Ellie protested. She began to climb the tree anyway. "No," I blurted. I had to prove my failure wrong. (cont)